
Bound in Blood
E.C.D. Meulenbelt · Ongoing · 57.7k Words
Introduction
Bound in Blood is created by E.C.D. Meulenbelt, an eGlobal Creative Publishing Signed Author.
Chapter 1
Joe appeared to be an average guy, He drove to work 5 days out of the week, he lived in a basement apartment, he paid his taxes yearly and he brushed his teeth twice a day. He appeared average even to himself, though this was not the case.
He was a handsome guy for someone so average, he had light brown hair a chiseled jaw line and stood around 6 foot tall. He had hazel eyes and a beauty mark on his cheek. He kept his hair short and shaved every day, being clean and proper made him feel accomplished somehow.
His goal in life was to run his own restaurant, successful people had goals and ambitions and he thought it would be a good idea to have one too. Just one restaurant would be good enough for him, a feather to put in his cap, it would be open 5 days a week, fine Italian pastas and pizzas with a sociable bar and respectable clientele. He knew the ins and outs of the restaurant world and he knew he could run a business, for he had done it for others for so long. He worked his way through the ranks in the restaurant system, from bus-boy, to server, to supervisor, to manager.
He'd stay a manager for longer than he expected, still working under the general manager and executives, he had been a manager for five years now and was turning thirty. Unhappy with his stagnation he would drown his sorrows at local pubs, bars, and occasionally a nightclub. The numbing of alcohol helped Joe cope with the lack of accomplishment, he had become addicted to the high of the night life where he was often praised by those lesser and more unfortunate.
Recently he had been dumped by his girlfriend Charlotte because of it, they had been together three long years and only just moved in an apartment together, in the third year Joe spent more time at the bar with his "friends" than he did with her. Charlotte broke up with him only four weeks ago, she kicked him out of the apartment and he got lucky enough to find this basement on short notice. She was a nice enough woman, Charlotte, she loved him, and he loved her, once. That was some time ago.
Indeed, everything appeared normal in Joe's life, he had problems just like everyone else he thought, everything was normal in Joe's life. Up until today.
Two knocks on the front door, it was Tuesday and Joe was off work, maybe not an average day off for most, but it was average for Joe, whose schedule was always changing.
"Who is it?" Joe asked, already knowing the answer .
Another two Knocks, he didn't bother to look out the peephole, he knew the only people who ever visited him was his good friend Eddy who he had worked with for ten years (their friendship expanding many restaurants); and his parents, who usually called in advance. Sure as it was Tuesday, when Joe opened the door, there stood Eddy with a big enigmatic smile, you could tell he was up to something.
"Hey buddy" said Eddy grinning ear to ear. "Don't be mad, but I got you the next two weeks off of work."
"You got me off of work? How??"
"I talked to Jerry." Eddy pushed passed Joe and made himself comfortable flopping down on Joe's couch."He approved it!"
Joe's house was neat, he cleaned twice a week and didn't have too much furniture unpacked yet to clutter his hole in the ground.
"He approved what?"
" Your two week get-over-your-ex vacation! Consider it a late birthday present." Eddy was proud of what he'd done. "Here look at the schedule." he pulled up an app on his phone that showed the schedule for the month. Sure enough, Joe saw that he had two weeks booked off. He didn't know whether to be angry that Eddy was able to take liberties with his schedule or relieved that for the next two weeks he wouldn't have to go to work, and Eddy obviously had something planned for those two weeks. He decided to stay impartial, it was his natural instinct.
"How did you get him to book my time off without my permission?"
"I showed him these." At that moment Eddy produced two tickets from his pocket. These tickets were not your average run of the mill tickets, they were golden with two big X's in red ink. Joe had never seen them before and therefore the effect Eddy was hoping for did not come to pass, instead what he got was:
"And? What are those for?" Joe was trying to conceal his curiosity.
"Two tickets to board the XX Stacy, the wildest, hottest, most notorious cruise ever to exist on god's green!"Eddy was pumped up, Joe, not so much.
"The XX Stacy!? Didn't ten people die on that cruise last year?" he worried. In the news headlines last year he remembers something about a cult suicide aboard a private party liner.
"The very same! Exciting isn't it?" Eddy was now up and almost hopping about Joe's apartment. "Let the wild sex-filled misadventures begin!"
"I thought the cruise was banned? Isn't that what happened? It got banned." Joe was pretty sure.
"Yes it was banned, but it isn't anymore. Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have these here tickets." Eddy could always convince Joe, and Joe never really resisted for too long when Eddy had a harebrained scheme; he usually went along because he could not see anything better to do. This instance was also another one of those cases where Joe gave in and let Eddy convince him, for he did have nothing better to do and felt like a party on a cruise ship could be quite fun, he had never been on one before.
"The cruise ships out tomorrow morning so you had better get packing, bring lots of condoms you're going to need them." Eddy said with a wink. Joe not believing him, rolled his eyes and packed his clothes under Eddy's supervision, Eddy made sure he didn't pack any "lazy clothes" which sweatpants, T-shirts and hoodies were classified under. Whilst Eddy was busy searching through Joe's closet for a good shirt, Joe packed away a box of condoms, just in case. He was in good shape and took good care of his body and people often referred to him as handsome. Then it occurred to Joe.
"How did you get these tickets? I thought they were impossible to get a hold of?"
Eddy smiled, a very Eddy smile.
" You won't believe it, The sexiest little blonde thing came by the bar last night wearing a tight black sparkling dress, she was nearly bursting out of it. She sat at the bar with her friend who was also a fox (dark skinned and jacked), and they were asking me all these questions like, do you have a girlfriend, do you live with anyone blah blah blah, they were really interested you know, they were licking their lips and eye-balling my stuff."
"Eye-balling your stuff?"
Eddy pointed to his entire body starting with the lower frontal region.
"It was like they wanted to eat me," he said in the best way possible. " They asked if I had heard of the XX Stacy cruise, (which I had) and they gave me these tickets, for free! On top of that they left a hundred dollar tip!" Eddy was beaming, "This is destiny calling my friend." He had no idea how on the nose that last comment had been.
"That's not what happened, tell me how you really got those tickets?" Joe's disbelief lasted only for a moment, of course this happened to Eddy, he was the most interesting person Joe knew.
After hours of grooming tips and fantasy 'what if' situations Eddy had left Joe's apartment in a whirlwind of lustful joy, leaving Joe alone to contemplate what he had just gotten into. "The XX Stacy was the world's greatest pleasure cruise," he thought. "A party that never stopped. Even if people died on board." and with that thought lingering and a small sense of dread in his stomach, he went to bed.
Last Chapters
#50 Chapter 50
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#49 Chapter 49
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#48 Chapter 48
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#47 Chapter 47
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#46 Chapter 46
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#45 Chapter 45
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#44 Chapter 44
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#43 Chapter 43
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#42 Chapter 42
Last Updated: 3/3/2025#41 Chapter 41
Last Updated: 3/3/2025
You Might Like 😍
The mafia princess return
Human Capture (Up North #2)
Raised in a starving settlement choked by a vast, unforgiving forest, Lara learned early that survival has a price. To keep her family alive, she became a master hunter—agile, silent, and deadly with an array of mismatched blades. But the forest has eyes, and one evening, the shadows dragged her away.
Nine months later, Lara breaks free from a concrete dungeon, only to find herself stranded in the lawless, rogue-infested wilds of Avers Land alongside four captured werewolf girls. Seeking refuge in the neighboring territory of Illyen, she expects to find a way back to her human life. Instead, she is brought face-to-face with Alpha Rowan, the terrifying, ruthless ruler of the frozen North.
One look into Lara’s eyes, and the Alpha’s world shatters. His eyes turn an absolute shade of black. The bond is undeniable. She is his fated mate.
But a human cannot survive the brutal political landscape of the North, and Rowan openly rejects the bond, dragging her onto a warship bound for a kingdom that views her as a fragile liability. Trapped between a mate who refuses to love her and a court of monsters waiting for her to break, Lara must use every hunter's instinct she possesses. Because in the realm of wolves, a human must either grow claws of her own—or perish in the snow.
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
A pack of their own
The Blackthorn Saga: The Heir (Book 1 & 2)
Pulled into a hidden world he never knew existed, Kruz is forced to face the truth—he isn’t just different.
He’s a vampire.
The transformation is only the beginning. Thrust from a life of survival into one of power, wealth, and expectation, Kruz is given a position no one his age should hold: District Elder.
With it comes authority. Responsibility. And enemies he doesn’t yet understand.
And then there’s the bond.
Forced into a connection he didn’t choose, Kruz is tied to a girl—whether he wants it or not. She’s a complication. A problem. A constant reminder that his life is no longer his own.
Because the one person he wants… is the one he can’t have.
As pressure builds and danger closes in, Kruz is forced to walk a line few survive—between duty and desire, control and instinct, the life he had and the one being forced upon him.
Because in this world, power isn’t earned slowly.
It’s given.
And if you’re not ready for it—
It will destroy you.
The Alpha King's Human Mate
“I have waited nine years for you. That’s nearly a decade since I’ve felt this emptiness inside me. Part of me began to wonder if you didn’t exist or you’d already died. And then I found you, right inside my own home.”
He used one of his hands to stroke my cheek and tingles erupted everywhere.
“I’ve spent enough time without you and I will not let anything else keep us apart. Not other wolves, not my drunken father who’s barely holding himself together the past twenty years, not your family – and not even you.”
Clark Bellevue has spent her entire life as the only human in the wolf pack - literally. Eighteen years ago, Clark was the accidental result of a brief affair between one of the most powerful Alphas in the world and a human woman. Despite living with her father and her werewolf half-siblings, Clark has never felt like she really belonged in the werewolf world. But right as Clark plans to leave the werewolf world behind for good, her life gets flipped upside down by her mate: the next Alpha King, Griffin Bardot. Griffin has been waiting years for the chance to meet his mate, and he's not about to let her go anytime soon. It doesn't matter how far Clark tries to run from her destiny or her mate - Griffin intends to keep her, no matter what he has to do or who stands in his way.
A Queen Among Darkness (Book 4 in the Gods' Saga)
For centuries, she has been on the run, helping the supernatural community under the cloak of anonymity while she works to clear her name and save the very people after her from destruction.
Enemies are closing in, but an unexpected complication befalls her when she realises she’s been fated to someone who wants her species exterminated. After all, an evil chance seldom comes alone.
A Queen Among Darkness is the 4th book in the Queen Among Series/The Gods' Saga. This is an interconnected series. To see how it ends, I recommend reading the full series.
Books in the series in order:
A Queen Among Alphas - Book 1
Bite-Size Luna - A Queen Among Alphas Prequel (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Snakes - Book 2
A Queen Among Blood - Book 3
A Queen Among Darkness - Book 4
Whole Again - A Queen Among Alpha's spin-off (available under book 1)
A Queen Among Tides - Book 5
Valor, Virtue, and Verve - Tides Prequel Spin-off (will be available under book 5)
A Queen Among Gods - Book 6
Runaway Empress - A Queen Among Snakes Prequel (will be available under book 2)
A Queen Among Tempests - Book 7
Dark Vocation - Darkness spin-off (will be available under book 4)
A Court of Arcane Souls Anthology (side character short stories exclusive to Ream)
Royal Shadow Series (Next Generation Coming Soon)
My Benchwarmer Boyfriend's Secret
As the team's benchwarmer, Marco practices harder than anyone, though few seems to notice. There's something about his quiet determination that draws me in, and I find myself falling for the underdog.
But when Marco's true story starts unraveling—about that first night, about who he really is, about the future he's destined for—I realize I might have gotten in way over my head.
And there's another problem: this was always meant to be temporary. His training program has an end date, and we're both fighting against a reality that seems determined to pull us apart.
When everything is on the line, how far are we willing to go for love?
The New Girl and the Broken Basketball Star
After years of feeling unwanted by the father who should have protected her, Clara is finally forced to leave the only home she has ever known. Her stepmother’s pregnancy only makes it easier for her family to let her go.
With nothing but her mother’s old violin, she arrives in a small Pennsylvania town carrying the fear that she will never truly belong anywhere.
The last thing she expects is Adrian Cole.
Once the town’s basketball star, Adrian gave up his dreams after his father disappeared and left him with debts he never should have carried. Now he spends his days repairing cars, avoiding the court, and pretending he doesn’t want anything more from life.
Clara thinks she is too broken to be loved.
Adrian thinks his future is already over.
But somewhere between physics lessons, late nights at the repair shop, and a forgotten small-town high school, two lonely people begin to find something they both thought they had lost forever:
A reason to stay.
✦ ✦ ✦
A tough exterior with a soft heart x A soft exterior with a strong heart
✦ ✦ ✦
The first half is set in high school, and the second half is set during their college years. Hope you enjoy the journey!
This is a slow-paced story, focused more on emotions, healing, and the small moments in life rather than intense action or dramatic twists.
If you find any mistakes while reading, please feel free to leave a comment. I’ll be happy to correct them.
I hope ordinary Clara, ordinary Adrian, and all of us ordinary people can find the happiness we deserve.
King of the Underworld
However, one fateful day, the King of the Underworld appeared before me and rescued me from the clutches of the most powerful Mafia boss's son. With his deep blue eyes fixed on mine, he spoke softly: "Sephie... short for Persephone... Queen of the Underworld. At last, I have found you." Confused by his words, I stammered out a question, “P..pardon? What does that mean?”
But he simply smiled at me and brushed my hair away from my face with gentle fingers: "You are safe now.”
Sephie, named for the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, she's quickly finding out how she's destined to fulfill her namesake's role. Adrik is the King of the Underworld, the boss of all bosses in the city he runs.
She was a seemingly normal girl, with a normal job until it all changed one night when he walked through the front door and her life changed abruptly. Now, she finds herself on the wrong side of powerful men, but under the protection of the most powerful among them.
The Princess's Revenge
Alpha Logan is an illegitimate son whose mother disappeared when he was 10 years old. He grew up suffering from humiliation and lacking maternal love.
Alpha Logan saves Valencia at Marcus's funeral, which seems to be destined by fate—part of the Moon Goddess's grand plan.
As Valencia accidentally discovers prophecies in Logan's mother's diary that seem to be related to her, the truth gradually surfaces. Valencia appears to be merely a tool in a princess's revenge plot. How will Logan and Valencia navigate their path amid the national war and pack politics?
Accidentally Crossing the Tycoon
Four years ago, the Bailey family faced a devastating financial crisis.
Just when bankruptcy seemed inevitable, a mysterious benefactor emerged, offering salvation with one condition: a contract marriage.
Rumors swirled about this enigmatic man—whispers claimed he was hideously ugly and too ashamed to show his face, possibly harboring dark, twisted obsessions.
Without hesitation, the Baileys sacrificed me to protect their precious biological daughter, forcing me to take her place as a pawn in this cold, calculated arrangement.
Luckily, in those four years, the mysterious husband never asked to meet in person.
Now, in the final year of our arrangement, the husband I've never met is demanding we meet face to face.
But disaster struck the night before my return—drunk and disoriented, I stumbled into the wrong hotel room and ended up sleeping with the legendary financial mogul, Caspar Thornton.
What the hell am I supposed to do now?












